“Wives, be in subjection
unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head
of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the Church: being Himself
the Saviour of the body. But as the Church is subject to Christ, so let
the wives also be to their husbands in everything.

A certain wise man, setting down a number of things in the rank of
blessings, set down this also in the rank of a blessing, “A wife
agreeing with her husband.” (Ecclus. xxv. 1.) And elsewhere
again he sets it down among blessings, that a woman should dwell in
harmony with her husband. (Ecclus. xl. 23.) And indeed from the
beginning, God appears to have made special provision for this union;
and discoursing of the twain as one, He said thus, “Male and
female created He them” (Gen. i. 27.); and again,
“There is neither male nor female.” (Gal. iii. 28.) For there is no
relationship between man and man so close as that between man and wife,
if they be joined together as they should be. And therefore a certain
blessed man too, when he would express surpassing love, and was
mourning for one that was dear to him, and of one soul with him, did
not mention father, nor mother, nor child, nor brother, nor friend, but
what? “Thy love to me was wonderful,” saith he,
“passing the love of women.” (2 Sam. i. 26.) For indeed, in
very deed, this love is more despotic than any despotism: for others
indeed may be strong, but this passion is not only strong, but
unfading. For there is a certain love deeply seated in our nature,
which imperceptibly to ourselves knits together these bodies of ours.
Thus even from the very beginning woman sprang from man, and afterwards
from man and woman sprang both man and woman.415415 [Compare what Paul says in 1 Cor.
xi. 8 and 12.—G.A.]
Perceivest thou the close bond and connection? And how that God
suffered not a different kind of nature to enter in from without? And
mark, how many providential arrangements He made. He permitted the man
to marry his own sister; or rather not his sister, but his daughter;
nay, nor yet his daughter, but something more than his daughter, even
his own flesh.416416 [He
refers to Adam’s marrying Eve.—G.A.] And thus the whole He framed from one
beginning, gathering all together, like stones in a building, into one.
For neither on the one hand did He form her from without, and this was
that the man might not feel towards her as towards an alien; nor again
did He confine marriage to her,417417 [That is, he did not confine marriage to woman with
woman.—G.A.] that she might
not, by contracting herself,418418 [There is another reading which applies these words to the man, as
follows: συστέλλων
ἑαυτὸν καὶ
συνάγων,
“that he might not, by contracting himself and making all center
in himself, be cut off from the rest,” instead of συστέλλουσα, etc.—G.A.] and making all
center in herself, be cut off from the rest. Thus as in the case of
plants, they are of all others the best, which have but a single stem,
and spread out into a number of branches; (since were all confined to
the root alone, all would be to no purpose, whereas again had it a
number of roots, the tree would be no longer worthy of admiration;) so,
I say, is the case here also. From one, namely Adam, He made the whole
race to spring, preventing them by the strongest necessity from being
ever torn asunder, or separated; and afterwards, making it more
restricted, He no longer allowed sisters and daughters to be wives,
lest we should on the other hand contract our love to one point, and
thus in another manner be cut off from one another. Hence Christ said,
“He which made them from the beginning, made them male and
female.” (Matt. xix. 4.)

For great evils are hence
produced, and great benefits, both to families and to states. For there
is nothing which so welds our life together as the love of man and
wife. For this many will lay aside even their arms,419419 ὅπλα. for this they will give up life itself. And
Paul would never without a reason and without an object have spent so
much pains on this subject, as when he says here, “Wives, be in
subjection unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.” And why so?
Because when they are in harmony, the children are well brought up, and
the domestics are in good order, and neighbors, and friends, and
relations enjoy the fragrance. But if it be otherwise, all is turned
upside down, and thrown into confusion. And just as when the generals
of an army are at peace one with another, all things are in due
subordination, whereas on the other hand, if they are at variance,
everything is turned upside down; so, I say, is it also here.
Wherefore, saith he, “Wives, be in subjection unto your own
husbands, as unto the Lord.”

Yet how strange! for how then is
it, that it is said elsewhere, “If one bid not farewell both to
wife and to husband, he cannot follow me”? (Luke xiv. 26.) For if it is
their duty to be in 144subjection “as unto the Lord,” how saith He that
they must depart from them for the Lord’s sake? Yet their duty
indeed it is, their bounden duty. But the word “as” is not
necessarily and universally expressive of exact equality. He either
means this, “‘as’ knowing that ye are servants to the
Lord”; (which, by the way, is what he says elsewhere, that, even
though they do it not for the husband’s sake, yet must they
primarily for the Lord’s sake;) or else he means, “when
thou obeyest thy husband, do so as serving the Lord.”420420 [“ὡς expresses the mode of view in which
the wives are to regard their obedience towards their husbands, namely,
‘as rendered to the Lord.’”—Meyer. In
Luke xiv.
26 the absolute is put for the relative, as elsewhere often, and this
explains our author’s difficulty.—G.A.] For if he who resisteth these external
authorities, those of governments, I mean, “withstandeth the
ordinance of God” (Rom. xiii. 2.), much more does
she who submits not herself to her husband. Such was God’s will
from the beginning.

Let us take as our fundamental
position then that the husband occupies the place of the
“head,” and the wife the place of the
“body.”

Ver. 23,
24.
Then, he proceeds with arguments and says that “the husband is
the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the Church, being
Himself the Saviour of the body. But421421 [This
“but” is by no means easy of explanation, but probably is
to be understood thus: He is the saviour of the body that man certainly
is not, “but, nevertheless,” as the Church is subject to
Christ, so let wives be to their husbands, etc.—Ellicott, Meyer,
Bengel, Calvin, and Alford.—G.A.] as the Church
is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their husbands in
everything.”

Then after saying, “The
husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is of the
Church,” he further adds, “and He is the Saviour of the
body.” For indeed the head is the saving health of the body. He
had already laid down beforehand for man and wife, the ground and
provision of their love, assigning to each their proper place, to the
one that of authority and forethought, to the other that of submission.
As then “the Church,” that is, both husbands and wives,
“is subject unto Christ, so also ye wives submit yourselves to
your husbands, as unto God.”

Ver.
25.
“Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the
Church.”

Thou hast heard how great the
submission; thou hast extolled and marvelled at Paul, how, like an
admirable and spiritual man, he welds together our whole life. Thou
didst well. But now hear what he also requires at thy hands; for again
he employs the same example.

“Husbands,” saith
he, “love your wives, even as Christ also loved the
Church.”

Thou hast seen the measure of
obedience, hear also the measure of love.422422 [“If you put all the arguments of orators together, you will
not persuade husband and wife to mutual affection as Paul does in this
place.”—Bugenhagen, quoted by Meyer.—G.A.]
Wouldest thou have thy wife obedient unto thee, as the Church is to
Christ? Take then thyself the same provident care for her, as Christ
takes for the Church. Yea, even if it shall be needful for thee to give
thy life for her, yea, and to be cut into pieces ten thousand times,
yea, and to endure and undergo any suffering whatever,—refuse it
not. Though thou shouldest undergo all this, yet wilt thou not, no, not
even then, have done anything like Christ. For thou indeed art doing it
for one to whom thou art already knit; but He for one who turned her
back on Him and hated Him. In the same way then as He laid at His feet
her who turned her back on Him, who hated, and spurned, and disdained
Him, not by menaces, nor by violence, nor by terror, nor by anything
else of the kind, but by his unwearied affection; so also do thou
behave thyself toward thy wife. Yea, though thou see her looking down
upon thee, and disdaining, and scorning thee, yet by thy great
thoughtfulness for her, by affection, by kindness, thou wilt be able to
lay her at thy feet. For there is nothing more powerful to sway than
these bonds, and especially for husband and wife. A servant, indeed,
one will be able, perhaps, to bind down by fear; nay not even him, for
he will soon start away and be gone. But the partner of one’s
life, the mother of one’s children, the foundation of one’s
every joy, one ought never to chain down by fear and menaces, but with
love and good temper. For what sort of union is that, where the wife
trembles at her husband? And what sort of pleasure will the husband
himself enjoy, if he dwells with his wife as with a slave, and not as
with a free-woman? Yea, though thou shouldest suffer anything on her
account, do not upbraid her; for neither did Christ do this.

Ver.
26.
“And gave Himself up,” he says, “for it, that He
might sanctify and cleanse it.”

So then she was unclean! So then
she had blemishes, so then she was unsightly, so then she was
worthless! Whatsoever kind of wife thou shalt take, yet shalt thou
never take such a bride as the Church, when Christ took her, nor one so
far removed from thee as the Church was from Christ. And yet for all
that, He did not abhor her, nor loathe her for her surpassing
deformity. Wouldest thou hear her deformity described? Hear what Paul
saith, “For ye were once darkness.” (Eph. v. 8.) Didst thou see
the blackness of her hue? What blacker than darkness? But look again at
her boldness, “living,” saith he, “in malice and
envy.” (Tit. iii. 3.) Look again at her
impurity; “disobedient, foolish.” But what am I saying? She
was both foolish, and of an evil tongue; and yet notwithstanding,
though so many were her blemishes, yet did He give Himself up for her
in her deformity, as for one in the bloom of youth, as for one dearly
be145loved, as
for one of wonderful beauty. And it was in admiration of this that Paul
said, “For scarcely for a righteous man will one die
(Rom.
v. 7.); and again, “in that while we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us.” (Rom. v. 8.) And though such
as this, He took her, He arrayed her in beauty, and washed her, and
refused not even this, to give Himself for her.

Ver. 26,
27.
“That He might sanctify it having cleansed it,” he
proceeds, “by the washing of water with the word; that He might
present the Church to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or
wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without
blemish.”

“By the washing or
laver” He washeth her uncleanness. “By the word,”
saith he. What word? “In the Name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Ghost.”423423 [“‘The word’ (ῥῆμα) does not mean here the
‘baptismal formula,’ as Chrysostom holds, but ‘the
gospel,’ and here stands without the article, because, denoting
‘the word’ κατ᾽
ἐξοχήν, it
could be treated as a proper noun, as νόμος, &c.
All special interpretations, except that of ‘gospel,’ are
purely invented.”—Meyer.—G.A.] (Matt. xxviii.
19.)
And not simply hath He adorned her, but hath made her “glorious,
not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing.” Let us then also
seek after this beauty ourselves, and we shall be able to create it.
Seek not thou at thy wife’s hand, things which she is not able to
possess. Seest thou that the Church had all things at her Lord’s
hands? By Him was made glorious, by Him was made pure, by Him made
without blemish? Turn not thy back on thy wife because of her
deformity. Hear the Scripture that saith, “The bee is little
among such as fly, but her fruit is the chief of sweet things.”424424 [Note that Chrysostom here quotes the Old Testament Apocrypha as
Scripture: ἄκουε τῆς
γραφῆς
λεγούσης. Dr. Schaff says: “He accepts the Syrian Canon of the
Peshito, which includes the Old Test. with the Apocrypha,”
&c. Prolegomena, p. 19.—G.A.] (Ecclus. xi. 3.) She is of God’s
fashioning. Thou reproachest not her, but Him that made her; what can
the woman do? Praise her not for her beauty. Praise and hatred and love
based on personal beauty belong to unchastened souls. Seek thou for
beauty of soul. Imitate the Bridegroom of the Church. Outward beauty is
full of conceit and great license, and throws men into jealousy, and
the thing often makes thee suspect monstrous things. But has it any
pleasure? For the first or second month, perhaps, or at most for the
year: but then no longer; the admiration by familiarity wastes away.
Meanwhile the evils which arose from the beauty still abide, the pride,
the folly, the contemptuousness. Whereas in one who is not such, there
is nothing of this kind. But the love having begun on just grounds,
still continues ardent, since its object is beauty of soul, and not of
body. What better, tell me, than heaven? What better than the stars?
Tell me of what body you will, yet is there none so fair. Tell me of
what eyes you will, yet are there none so sparkling. When these were
created, the very Angels gazed with wonder, and we gaze with wonder
now; yet not in the same degree as at first. Such is familiarity;
things do not strike us in the same degree. How much more in the case
of a wife! And if moreover disease come too, all is at once fled. Let
us seek in a wife affectionateness, modest-mindedness, gentleness;
these are the characteristics of beauty. But loveliness of person let
us not seek, nor upbraid her upon these points, over which she has no
power, nay, rather, let us not upbraid at all, (it were rudeness,) nor
let us be impatient, nor sullen. Do ye not see how many, after living
with beautiful wives, have ended their lives pitiably, and how many,
who have lived with those of no great beauty, have run on to extreme
old age with great enjoyment. Let us wipe off the “spot”
that is within, let us smooth the “wrinkles” that are
within, let us do away the “blemishes” that are on the
soul. Such is the beauty God requires. Let us make her fair in
God’s sight, not in our own. Let us not look for wealth, nor for
that high-birth which is outward, but for that true nobility which is
in the soul. Let no one endure to get rich by a wife; for such riches
are base and disgraceful; no, by no means let any one seek to get rich
from this source. “For they that desire to be rich, fall into a
temptation and a snare, and many foolish and hurtful lusts, and into
destruction and perdition.” (1 Tim. vi. 9.) Seek not
therefore in thy wife abundance of wealth, and thou shalt find
everything else go well. Who, tell me, would overlook the most
important things, to attend to those which are less so? And yet, alas!
this is in every case our feeling. Yes, if we have a son, we concern
ourselves not how he may be made virtuous, but how we may get him a
rich wife; not how he may be well-mannered, but well-monied:425425 οὐχ ὅπως
εὔτροπος
ἀλλ᾽ ὅπως
εὔπορος. if we follow a business, we enquire not how
it may be clear of sin, but how it may bring us in most profit. And
everything has become money; and thus is everything corrupted and
ruined, because that passion possesses us.

Ver.
28.
“Even so ought husbands to love their own wives,” saith he,
“as their own bodies.”

What, again, means this? To how
much greater a similitude, and stronger example has he come; and not
only so, but also to one how much nearer and clearer, and to a fresh
obligation. For that other one was of no very constraining force, for
He was Christ, and was God, and gave Himself. He now manages his
argument on a different ground, saying, “so ought men”;
because the thing is not a favor, 146but a debt. Then, “as
their own bodies.” And why?

Ver.
29.
“For no man ever hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and
cherisheth it.”

That is, tends it with exceeding
care. And how is she his flesh? Hearken; “This now is bone of my
bones,” saith Adam, “and flesh of my flesh.”
(Gen.
ii. 23.) For she is made of matter taken from us. And not only so, but
also, “they shall be,” saith God, “one flesh.”
(Gen.
ii. 24.)

“Even as Christ also the
Church.” Here he returns to the former example.

Ver.
30.
“Because we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His
bones.”426426 [The
words, “of his flesh and of his bones,” are omitted
by א* A B, by
Memphitic version, by Lach. Tish. Treg. (text) W. & H., and by the
Rev. Ver. without any marginal notice whatever.—G.A.]

Ver.
31.
“For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and
shall cleave to his wife, and the twain shall become one
flesh.”427427 [Meyer: “‘For this reason,’ namely, because we
are members of Christ’s body. Paul then applies what is spoken in
Gen. of the union of husband and wife, by a typical interpretation, to
the second coming (future, καταλείψει) of Christ, and his union with the Church, which shall
take place at the Parousia.” Ellicott says that
Chrysostom’s view is more probable, namely, that it refers to
Christ’s coming in the flesh. (See a little below, on ver.
32.)—G.A.]

Behold again a third ground of
obligation; for he shows that a man leaving them that begat him, and
from whom he was born, is knit to his wife; and that then the one flesh
is, father, and mother, and the child, from the substance of the two
commingled. For indeed by the commingling of their seeds is the child
produced, so that the three are one flesh. Thus then are we in relation
to Christ; we become one flesh by participation, and we much more than
the child. And why and how so? Because so it has been from the
beginning.

Tell me not that such and such
things are so. Seest thou not that we have in our own flesh itself many
defects? For one man, for instance, is lame, another has his feet
distorted, another his hands withered, another some other member weak;
and yet nevertheless he does not grieve at it, nor cut it off, but
oftentimes prefers it even to the other. Naturally enough; for it is
part of himself. As great love as each entertains towards himself, so
great he would have us entertain towards a wife. Not because we partake
of the same nature; no, this ground of duty towards a wife is far
greater than that; it is that there are not two bodies but one; he the
head, she the body. And how saith he elsewhere “and the Head of
Christ is God”? (1 Cor. xi. 3.) This I too say,
that as we are one body, so also are Christ and the Father One. And
thus then is the Father also found to be our Head. He sets down two
examples, that of the natural body and that of Christ’s body. And
hence he further adds,

Ver.
32.
“This is great mystery: but I speak in regard of Christ and of
the Church.”428428 [This seems a distinct statement on the part of the Apostle, that
the preceding words refer not to actual marriage of man and woman, but
to the nuptial union of Christ and the Church. So Meyer. But Dr.
Riddle, in the Popular Commentary, says this “mystical
interpretation is unsafe.”—G.A.]

Why does he call it a great
mystery? That it was something great and wonderful, the blessed Moses,
or rather God, intimated. For the present, however, saith he, I speak
regarding Christ, that having left the Father, He came down, and came
to the Bride, and became one Spirit. “For he that is joined unto
the Lord is one Spirit.” (1 Cor. vi. 17.) And well saith
he, “it is a great mystery.” And then as though he were
saying, “But still nevertheless the allegory does not destroy
affection,” he adds,

Ver.
33.
“Nevertheless429429 [Nevertheless, i.e., not to press the mystical bearings of the
subject any further.—Ellicott. So substantially Meyer and
Riddle.—G.A.] do ye also
severally love each one his own wife even as himself; and let the wife
see that she fear her husband.”

For indeed, in very deed, a
mystery it is, yea, a great mystery, that a man should leave him that
gave him being, him that begat him, and that brought him up, and her
that travailed with him and had sorrow, those that have bestowed upon
him so many and great benefits, those with whom he has been in familiar
intercourse, and be joined to one who was never even seen by him and
who has nothing in common with him, and should honor her before all
others. A mystery it is indeed. And yet are parents not distressed when
these events take place, but rather, when they do not take place; and
are delighted when their wealth is spent and lavished upon it.—A
great mystery indeed! and one that contains some hidden wisdom. Such
Moses prophetically showed it to be from the very first; such now also
Paul proclaims it, where he saith, “concerning Christ and the
Church.”

However not for the
husband’s sake alone it is thus said, but for the wife’s
sake also, that “he cherish her as his own flesh, as Christ also
the Church,” and, “that the wife fear her husband.”
He is no longer setting down the duties of love only, but what?
“That she fear her husband.” The wife is a second
authority; let not her then demand equality, for she is under the head;
nor let him despise her as being in subjection, for she is the body;
and if the head despise the body, it will itself also perish. But let
him bring in love on his part as a counterpoise to obedience on her
part. For example, let the hands and the feet, and all the rest of the
members be given up for service to the head, but let the head provide
for the body, seeing it contains every sense in itself. Nothing can be
better than this union.

And yet how can there ever be
love, one may 147say, where there is fear? It will exist there, I say,
preëminently. For she that fears and reverences, loves also; and
she that loves, fears and reverences him as being the head, and loves
him as being a member, since the head itself is a member of the body at
large. Hence he places the one in subjection, and the other in
authority, that there may be peace; for where there is equal authority
there can never be peace; neither where a house is a democracy, nor
where all are rulers; but the ruling power must of necessity be one.
And this is universally the case with matters referring to the body,
inasmuch as when men are spiritual, there will be peace. There were
“five thousand souls,” and not one of them said,
“that aught of the things which he possessed was his own”
(Acts
iv. 32.), but they were subject one to another; an indication this of
wisdom, and of the fear of God. The principle of love, however, he
explains; that of fear he does not. And mark, how on that of love he
enlarges, stating the arguments relating to Christ and those relating
to one’s own flesh, the words, “For this cause shall a man
leave his father and mother.” (Ver. 31.) Whereas upon those
drawn from fear he forbears to enlarge. And why so? Because he would
rather that this principle prevail, this, namely, of love; for where
this exists, everything else follows of course, but where the other
exists, not necessarily. For the man who loves his wife, even though
she be not a very obedient one, still will bear with everything. So
difficult and impracticable is unanimity, where persons are not bound
together by that love which is founded in supreme authority; at all
events, fear will not necessarily effect this. Accordingly, he dwells
the more upon this, which is the strong tie. And the wife though
seeming to be the loser in that she was charged to fear, is the gainer,
because the principal duty, love, is charged upon the husband.
“But what,” one may say, “if a wife reverence me
not?” Never mind, thou art to love, fulfill thine own duty. For
though that which is due from others may not follow, we ought of course
to do our duty. This is an example of what I mean. He says,
“submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of
Christ.” And what then if another submit not himself? Still obey
thou the law of God. Just so, I say, is it also here. Let the wife at
least, though she be not loved, still reverence notwithstanding, that
nothing may lie at her door; and let the husband, though his wife
reverence him not, still show her love notwithstanding, that he himself
be not wanting in any point. For each has received his own.

This then is marriage when it
takes place according to Christ, spiritual marriage, and spiritual
birth, not of blood, nor of travail, nor of the will of the flesh. Such
was the birth of Christ, not of blood, nor of travail. Such also was
that of Isaac. Hear how the Scripture saith, “And it ceased to be
with Sarah after the manner of women.” (Gen. xviii.
11.)
Yea, a marriage it is, not of passion, nor of the flesh, but wholly
spiritual, the soul being united to God by a union unspeakable, and
which He alone knoweth. Therefore he saith, “He that is joined
unto the Lord is one spirit.” (1 Cor. vi. 17.) Mark how
earnestly he endeavors to unite both flesh with flesh, and spirit with
spirit. And where are the heretics?430430 The
Gnostics, Encratites (Schaff, Church Hist. II. p. 495), and
other sects forebade marriage; vid. 1 Tim. iv. 3. Here the
Marcionites seem to be intended, whom St. Chrysostom often mentions;
vid. supr. Hom. xix. [See Schaff’s Church Hist.,
Vol. II., p. 457.—G.A.] Never surely,
if marriage were a thing to be condemned, would he have called Christ
and the Church a bride and bridegroom; never would he have brought
forward by way of exhortation the words, “A man shall leave his
father and his mother”; and again have added, that it was
“spoken in regard of Christ and of the Church.” For of her
it is that the Psalmist also saith, “Hearken, O daughter, and
consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy
father’s house. So shall the king desire thy beauty.”
(Ps.
xlv. 10, 11.) Therefore also Christ saith, “I came out from the
Father, and am come.” (John xvi. 28.) But when I say,
that He left the Father, imagine not such a thing as happens among men,
a change of place; for just in the same way as the word “go
forth” is used, not because He literally came forth, but because
of His incarnation, so also is the expression, “He left the
Father.”

Now why did he not say of the
wife also, She shall be joined unto her husband? Why, I say, is this?
Because he was discoursing concerning love, and was discoursing to the
husband. For to her indeed he discourses concerning reverence, and
says, “the husband is the head of the wife” (ver. 23.), and again,
“Christ is the Head of the Church.” Whereas to him he
discourses concerning love, and commits to him this province of love,
and declares to him that which pertains to love, thus binding him and
cementing him to her. For the man that leaves his father for the sake
of his wife, and then again, leaves this very wife herself and abandons
her, what forbearance can he deserve?

Seest thou not how great a share
of honor God would have her enjoy, in that he hath taken thee away from
thy father, and hath linked thee to her? What then, a man may say, if
our duty is done, and yet she does not follow the example? “Yet
if the unbelieving departeth, let him depart; the brother or the sister
is not under bondage in such cases.” (1 Cor. vii.
15.)

148However, when thou hearest of “fear,” demand that fear
which becomes a free woman, not as though thou wert exacting it of a
slave. For she is thine own body; and if thou do this, thou reproachest
thyself in dishonoring thine own body. And of what nature is this
“fear”? It is the not contradicting, the not rebelling, the
not being fond of the preëminence. It is enough that fear be kept
within these bounds. But if thou love, as thou art commanded, thou wilt
make it yet greater. Or rather it will not be any longer by fear that
thou wilt be doing this, but love itself will have its effect. The sex
is somehow weaker, and needs much support, much
condescension.

But what will they say, who are
knit together in second marriages?431431 [On
second marriages in the early Church, see Schaff’s History of
the Christian Church, Vol. II., p. 366.—G.A.] I speak not
at all in condemnation of them, God forbid; for the Apostle himself
permits them, though indeed by way of condescension.

Supply her with everything. Do
everything and endure trouble for her sake. Necessity is laid upon
thee.

Here he does not think it right
to introduce his counsel, as he in many cases does, with examples from
them that are without. That of Christ, so great and forcible, were
alone enough; and more especially as regards the argument of
subjection. “A man shall leave,” he saith, “his
father and mother.” Behold, this then is from without. But he
does not say, and “shall dwell with,” but “shall
cleave unto,” thus showing the closeness of the union, and the
fervent love. Nay, he is not content with this, but further by what he
adds, he explains the subjection in such a way as that the twain appear
no longer twain. He does not say, “one spirit,” he does not
say, “one soul” (for that is manifest, and is possible to
any one), but so as to be “one flesh.” She is a second
authority, possessing indeed an authority, and a considerable equality
of dignity; but at the same time the husband has somewhat of
superiority. In this consists most chiefly the well-being of the house.
For he took that former argument, the example of Christ, to show that
we ought not only to love, but also to govern; “that she may
be,” saith he, “holy and without blemish.” But the
word “flesh” has reference to love—and the word
“shall cleave” has in like manner reference to love. For if
thou shalt make her “holy and without blemish,” everything
else will follow. Seek the things which are of God, and those which are
of man will follow readily enough. Govern thy wife, and thus will the
whole house be in harmony. Hear what Paul saith. “And if they
would learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home.”
(1
Cor. xiv. 35.) If we thus regulate our own houses, we shall be also fit
for the management of the Church. For indeed a house is a little
Church. Thus it is possible for us by becoming good husbands and wives,
to surpass all others.

Consider Abraham, and Sarah, and
Isaac, and the three hundred and eighteen born in his house.
(Gen.
xiv. 14.) How the whole house was harmoniously knit together, how the
whole was full of piety and fulfilled the Apostolic injunction. She
also “reverenced her husband”; for hear her own words,
“It hath not yet happened unto me even until now, and my lord is
old also.” (Gen. xviii. 12.)432432 [This, according to the Septuagint, which has οὔπω μέν μοι
γέγονεν ἕως
τοῦ νῦν.
& 233· δὲ
κύριός μου
πρεσβύτερος. The Rev. Ver., following the Hebrew, has, “After I
am waxed old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old
also?”—G.A.] And he again so loved her, that in all
things he obeyed her commands. And the young child was virtuous, and
the servants born in the house, they too were so excellent that they
refused not even to hazard their lives with their master; they delayed
not, nor asked the reason. Nay, one of them, the chief, was so
admirable, that he was even entrusted with the marriage of the
only-begotten child, and with a journey into a foreign country.
(Gen.
xxiv. 1–67.) For just as with a general, when his soldiery also is
well organized, the enemy has no quarter to attack; so, I say, is it
also here: when husband and wife and children and servants are all
interested in the same things, great is the harmony of the house. Since
where this is not the case, the whole is oftentimes overthrown and
broken up by one bad servant; and that single one will often mar and
utterly destroy the whole.

Moral. Let us then be very thoughtful both for our wives, and children,
and servants; knowing that we shall thus be establishing for ourselves
an easy government, and shall have our accounts with them gentle and
lenient, and say, “Behold I, and the children which God hath
given me.” (Isa. viii. 18.) If the husband
command respect, and the head be honorable, then will the rest of the
body sustain no violence. Now what is the wife’s fitting
behavior, and what the husband’s, he states accurately, charging
her to reverence him as the head, and him to love her as a wife; but
how, it may be said, can these things be? That they ought indeed so to
be, he has proved. But how they can be so, I will tell you. They will
be so, if we will despise money, if we will look but to one thing only,
excellence of soul, if we will keep the fear of God before our eyes.
For what he says in his discourse to servants, “whatsoever any
man doeth, whether it be good or evil, the same shall he receive of the
Lord” (Eph. vi. 8.); this is also the
case here. Love her therefore not for her sake so much as for
Christ’s sake. This, at least, he as much as 149intimates, in saying,
“as unto the Lord.” So then do everything, as in obedience
to the Lord, and as doing everything for His sake. This were enough to
induce and to persuade us, and not to suffer that there should be any
teasing and dissension. Let none be believed when slandering the
husband to his wife; no, nor let the husband believe anything at random
against the wife, nor let the wife be without reason inquisitive about
his goings out and his comings in. No, nor on any account let the
husband ever render himself worthy of any suspicion whatever. For what,
tell me, what if thou shalt devote thyself all the day to thy friends,
and give the evening to thy wife, and not even thus be able to content
her, and place her out of reach of suspicion? Though thy wife complain,
yet be not annoyed—it is her love, not her folly—they are
the complaints of fervent attachment, and burning affection, and fear.
Yes, she is afraid lest any one have stolen her marriage bed, lest any
one have injured her in that which is the summit of her blessings, lest
any one have taken away from her him who is her head, lest any one have
broken through her marriage chamber.

There is also another ground of
petty jealousy. Let neither claim too much service of the servants,
neither the husband from the maid-servant, nor the wife from the
man-servant. For these things also are enough to beget suspicion. For
consider, I say, that righteous household I spoke of. Sarah herself
bade the patriarch take Hagar. She herself directed it, no one
compelled her, nor did the husband433433 [The punctuation of Field: οὐδὲ
ἐπῆλθεν· ὁ
ἀνὴρ, &c., is clearly
not so good as that of the Oxford translator: οὐδὲ
ἐπῆλθεν ὁ
ἀνήρ,
&c.—G.A.] attempt it;
no, although he had dragged on so long a period childless, yet he chose
never to become a father, rather than to grieve his wife. And yet even
after all this, what said Sarah? “The Lord judge between me and
thee.” (Gen. xvi. 5.) Now, I say, had he
been any one else would he not have been moved to anger? Would he not
also have stretched forth his hand, saying as it were, “What
meanest thou? I had no desire to have anything to do with the woman; it
was all thine own doing; and dost thou turn again and accuse
me?”—But no, he says nothing of the sort;—but what?
“Behold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to her that which is good in
thine eyes.” (Gen. xvi. 6.) He delivered up
the partner of his bed, that he might not grieve Sarah. And yet surely
is there nothing greater than this for producing affection. For if
partaking of the same table produces unanimity even in robbers towards
their foes, (and the Psalmist434434 [The Septuagint reads, ὃςἐπὶ
τὸ αὐτὸ
ἐγλύκανας
ἐδέσματα, and this Chrysostom, not knowing Hebrew, follows. The Rev. Ver.
has “We took sweet counsel
together.”—G.A.] saith, “Who
didst eat sweet food at the same table with me”); much more will
the becoming one flesh—for such is the being the partner of the
bed—be effectual to draw us together. Yet did none of these
things avail to overcome him; but he delivered Hagar up to his wife, to
show that nothing had been done by his own fault. Nay, and what is
more, he sent her forth when with child. Who would not have pitied one
that had conceived a child by himself? Yet was the just man unmoved,
for he set before everything else the love he owed his wife.

Let us then imitate him
ourselves. Let no one reproach his neighbor with his poverty; let no
one be in love with money; and then all difficulties will be at an
end.

Neither let a wife say to her
husband, “Unmanly coward that thou art, full of sluggishness and
dullness, and fast asleep! here is such a one, a low man, and of low
parentage, who runs his risks, and makes his voyages, and has made a
good fortune; and his wife wears her jewels, and goes out with her pair
of milk-white mules;435435 So
Demosthenes says of Midias, καὶ
εἰς μυστήρια
τὴν γυναῖκα
ἄγει, κἄν
ἄλλοσέ ποι
βούληται, ἐπὶ
τοῦ λευκοῦ
ζεύγους τοῦ
ἐκ
Σικυῶνος. Dem. in Mid. p. 565. she rides about
everywhere, she has troops of slaves, and a swarm of eunuchs, but thou
hast cowered down and livest to no purpose.” Let not a wife say
these things, nor anything like them. For she is the body, not to
dictate to the head, but to submit herself and obey. “But
how,” some one will say, “is she to endure poverty? Where
is she to look for consolation?” Let her select and put beside
her those who are poorer still. Let her again consider how many noble
and high-born maidens have not only received nothing of their husbands,
but have even given dowries to them, and have spent their all upon
them. Let her reflect on the perils which arise from such riches, and
she will cling to this quiet life. In short, if she is affectionately
disposed towards her husband, she will utter nothing of the sort. No,
she will rather choose to have him near her, though gaining nothing,
than gaining ten thousand talents of gold, accompanied with that care
and anxiety which always arise to wives from those distant
voyages.

Neither, however, let the
husband, when he hears these things, on the score of his having the
supreme authority, betake himself to revilings and to blows; but let
him exhort, let him admonish her, as being less perfect, let him
persuade her with arguments. Let him never once lift his
hand,—far be this from a noble spirit,—no, nor give
expression to insults, or taunts, or revilings; but let him regulate
and direct her as being wanting in wisdom. Yet how shall this be
150done? If she be
instructed in the true riches, in the heavenly philosophy, she will
make no complaints like these. Let him teach her then, that poverty is
no evil. Let him teach her, not by what he says only, but also by what
he does. Let him teach her to despise glory; and then his wife will
speak of nothing, and will desire nothing of the kind. Let him, as if
he had an image given into his hands to mould, let him, from that very
evening on which he first receives her into the bridal chamber, teach
her temperance, gentleness, and how to live, casting down the love of
money at once from the outset, and from the very threshold. Let him
discipline her in wisdom, and advise her never to have bits of gold
hanging at her ears, and down her cheeks, and laid round about her
neck, nor laid up about the chamber, nor golden and costly garments
stored up. But let her chamber be handsome, still let not what is
handsome degenerate into finery. No, leave these things to the people
of the stage. Adorn thine house thyself with all possible neatness, so
as rather to breathe an air of soberness than much perfume. For hence
will arise two or three good results. First then, the bride will not be
grieved, when the apartments are opened, and the tissues, and the
golden ornaments, and silver vessels, are sent back to their several
owners. Next, the bridegroom will have no anxiety about the loss, nor
for the security of the accumulated treasures. Thirdly again, in
addition to this, which is the crown of all these benefits, by these
very points he will be showing his own judgment, that indeed he has no
pleasure in any of these things, and that he will moreover put an end
to everything else in keeping with them, and will never so much as
allow the existence either of dances, or of immodest songs. I am aware
that I shall appear perhaps ridiculous to many persons, in giving such
admonitions. Still nevertheless, if ye will but listen to me, as time
goes on, and the benefit of the practice accrues to you, then ye will
understand the advantage of it. And the laughter will pass off, and ye
will laugh at the present fashion, and will see that the present
practice is really that of silly children and of drunken men. Whereas
what I recommend is the part of soberness, and wisdom, and of the
sublimest way of life. What then do I say is our duty? Take away from
marriage all those shameful, those Satanic, those immodest songs, those
companies of profligate young people, and this will avail to chasten
the spirit of thy bride.436436 [In
Hom. XII. on 1 Cor. iv. 10, Chrysostom says, “But when marriages
are solemnized, dancing and cymbals and flutes and shameful words and
songs and drunkenness and revelings and the Devil’s great heap of
trash are introduced.” And much more to the same effect and in
great detail.—G.A.] For she will at
once thus reason with herself; “Wonderful! What a philosopher
this man is! he regards the present life as nothing, he has brought me
here into his house, to be a mother, to bring up his children, to
manage his household affairs.” “Yes, but these things are
distasteful to a bride?” Just for the first or second
day;—but not afterwards; nay, she will even reap from them the
greatest delight, and relieve herself of all suspicion. For a man who
can endure neither flute-players, nor dancers, nor broken songs,437437 ἀσμάτων
κεκλασμένων. and that too at the very time of his
wedding, that man will scarcely endure ever to do or say anything
shameful. And then after this, when thou hast stripped the marriage of
all these things, then take her, and form and mould her carefully,
encouraging her bashfulness to a considerable length of time, and not
destroying it suddenly. For even if the damsel be very bold, yet for a
time she will keep silence out of reverence for her husband, and
feeling herself a novice in the circumstances. Thou then break not off
this reserve too hastily, as unchaste husbands do, but encourage it for
a long time. For this will be a great advantage to thee. Meanwhile she
will not complain, she will not find fault with any laws thou mayest
frame for her. During that time therefore, during which shame, like a
sort of bridle laid upon the soul, suffers her not to make any murmur,
nor to complain of what is done, lay down all thy laws. For as soon as
ever she acquires boldness, she will overturn and confound everything
without any sense of fear. When is there then another time so
advantageous for moulding a wife, as that during which she reverences
her husband, and is still timid, and still shy? Then lay down all thy
laws for her, and willing or unwilling, she will certainly obey them.
But how shalt thou help spoiling her modesty? By showing her that thou
thyself art no less modest than she is, addressing to her but few
words, and those too with great gravity and collectedness. Then entrust
her with the discourses of wisdom, for her soul will receive them. And
establish her in that loveliest habit, I mean modesty. If you wish me,
I will also tell you by way of specimen, what sort of language should
be addressed to her. For if Paul shrank not from saying, “Defraud
ye not one the other” (1 Cor. vii. 5.), and spoke the
language of a bridesmaid, or rather not of a bridesmaid, but of a
spiritual soul, much more will not we shrink from speaking. What then
is the language we ought to address to her? With great delicacy then we
may say to her, “I have taken thee, my child, to be partner of my
life, and have brought thee in to share with me in the closest and most
honorable ties, in my children, and the superintendence of my house.
And what advice then shall I now recommend thee?” But rather,
first talk with her of your love for her; for 151there is nothing that so
contributes to persuade a hearer to admit sincerely the things that are
said, as to be assured that they are said with hearty affection. How
then art thou to show that affection? By saying, “when it was in
my power to take many to wife, both with better fortunes, and of noble
family, I did not so choose, but I was enamoured of thee, and thy
beautiful life, thy modesty, thy gentleness, and soberness of
mind.” Then immediately from these beginnings open the way to
your discourse on true wisdom, and with some circumlocution make a
protest against riches. For if you direct your argument at once against
riches, you will bear too heavily upon her; but if you do it by taking
an occasion, you will succeed entirely. For you will appear to be doing
it in the way of an apology, not as a morose sort of person, and
ungracious, and over-nice about trifles. But when you take occasion
from what relates to herself, she will be even pleased. You will say
then, (for I must now take up the discourse again,) that “whereas
I might have married a rich woman, and with good fortune, I could not
endure it. And why so? Not capriciously, and without reason; but I was
taught well and truly, that money is no real possession, but a most
despicable thing, a thing which moreover belongs as well to thieves,
and to harlots, and to grave-robbers. So I gave up these things, and
went on till I fell in with the excellence of thy soul, which I value
above all gold. For a young damsel who is discreet and ingenuous, and
whose heart is set on piety, is worth the whole world. For these
reasons then, I courted thee, and I love thee, and prefer thee to my
own soul. For the present life is nothing. And I pray, and beseech, and
do all I can, that we may be counted worthy so to live this present
life, as that we may be able also there in the world to come to be
united to one another in perfect security. For our time here is brief
and fleeting. But if we shall be counted worthy by having pleased God
to so exchange this life for that one, then shall we ever be both with
Christ and with each other, with more abundant pleasure. I value thy
affection above all things, and nothing is so bitter or so painful to
me, as ever to be at variance with thee. Yes, though it should be my
lot to lose my all, and to become poorer than Irus,438438 [The well-known beggar of Ithaca, the home of Ulysses. He was the
messenger of the suitors of Penelope. See Odys. Bk. xviii. 1–125.
Later, his name was used as an appellation, “an Irus, a
beggar.” Liban. i. 568.—Liddell and
Scott.—G.A.] and undergo the extremest hazards, and
suffer any pain whatsoever, all will be tolerable and endurable, so
long as thy feelings are true towards me. And then will my children be
most dear to me, whilst thou art affectionately disposed towards me.
But thou must do these duties too.” Then mingle also with your
discourse the Apostle’s words, that “thus God would have
our affections blended together; for listen to the Scripture, which
saith, ‘For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother,
and cleave to his wife.’ Let us have no pretext for narrow-minded
jealousy.439439 μικροψυχία. Perish riches, and retinue of
slaves, and all your outward pomps. To me this is more valuable than
all.” What weight of gold, what amount of treasures, are so dear
to a wife as these words? Never fear that because she is beloved she
will ever rave against thee, but confess that thou lovest her. For
courtezans indeed, who now attach themselves to one and now to another,
would naturally enough feel contempt towards their lovers, should they
hear such expressions as these; but a free-born wife or a noble damsel
would never be so affected with such words; no, she will be so much the
more subdued. Show her too, that you set a high value on her company,
and that you are more desirous to be at home for her sake, than in the
market-place. And esteem her before all your friends, and above the
children that are born of her, and let these very children be beloved
by thee for her sake. If she does any good act, praise and admire it;
if any foolish one, and such as girls may chance to do, advise her and
remind her. Condemn out and out all riches and extravagance, and gently
point out the ornament that there is in neatness and in modesty; and be
continually teaching her the things that are profitable.

Let your prayers be common.440440 [For a
picture of family life drawn by Clement of Alexandria, and another
drawn by Tertullian, see Schaff, Church History, Vol. II., p.
364.—G.A.] Let each go to Church; and let the husband
ask his wife at home, and she again ask her husband, the account of the
things which were said and read there. If any poverty should overtake
you, cite the case of those holy men, Paul and Peter, who were more
honored than any kings or rich men; and yet how they spent their lives,
in hunger and in thirst. Teach her that there is nothing in life that
is to be feared, save only offending against God. If any marry thus,
with these views, he will be but little inferior to monks; the married
but little below the unmarried.

If thou hast a mind to give
dinners, and to make entertainments, let there be nothing immodest,
nothing disorderly. If thou shouldest find any poor saint able to bless
your house, able only just by setting his foot in it to bring in the
whole blessing of God, invite him. And shalt I say moreover another
thing? Let no one of you make it his endeavor to marry a rich
152woman, but much
rather a poor one. When she comes in, she will not bring so great a
source of pleasure from her riches, as she will annoyance from her
taunts, from her demanding more than she brought, from her insolence,
her extravagance, her vexatious language. For she will say perhaps,
“I have not yet spent anything of thine, I am still wearing my
own apparel, bought with what my parents settled upon me.” What
sayest thou, O woman? Still wearing thine own! And what can be more
miserable than this language? Why, thou hast no longer a body of thine
own, and hast thou money of thine own? After marriage ye are no longer
twain, but are become one flesh, and are then your possessions twain,
and not one? Oh! this love of money! Ye both are become one man, one
living creature; and dost thou still say “mine own”? Cursed
and abominable word that it is, it was brought in by the devil. Things
far nearer and dearer to us than these hath God made all common to us,
and are these then not common? We cannot say, “my own light, my
own sun, my own water”: all our greater blessings are common, and
are riches not common? Perish the riches ten thousand times over! Or
rather not the riches, but those tempers of mind which know not how to
make use of riches, but esteem them above all things.

Teach her these lessons also
with the rest, but with much graciousness. For since the recommendation
of virtue has in itself much that is stern, and especially to a young
and tender damsel, whenever discourses on true wisdom are to be made,
contrive that your manner be full of grace and kindness. And above all
banish this notion from her soul, of “mine and thine.” If
she say the word “mine,” say unto her, “What things
dost thou call thine? For in truth I know not; I for my part have
nothing of mine own. How then speakest thou of ‘mine,’ when
all things are thine?” Freely grant her the word. Dost thou not
perceive that such is our practice with children? When, whilst we are
holding anything, a child snatches it, and wishes again to get hold of
some other thing, we allow it, and say, “Yes, and this is thine,
and that is thine.” The same also let us do with a wife; for her
temper is more or less like a child’s; and if she says
“mine,” say, “why, everything is thine, and I am
thine.” Nor is the expression one of flattery, but of exceeding
wisdom. Thus wilt thou be able to abate her wrath, and put an end to
her disappointment. For it is flattery when a man does an unworthy act
with an evil object: whereas this is the highest philosophy. Say then,
“Even I am thine, my child; this advice Paul gives me where he
says, ‘The husband hath not power over his own body, but the
wife.’ (1 Cor. vii. 4.) If I have no power
over my body, but thou hast, much more hast thou over my
possessions.” By saying these things thou wilt have quieted her,
thou wilt have quenched the fire, thou wilt have shamed the devil, thou
wilt have made her more thy slave than one bought with money, with this
language thou wilt have bound her fast. Thus then, by thine own
language, teach her never to speak of “mine and thine.” And
again, never call her simply by her name, but with terms of endearment,
with honor, with much love. Honor her, and she will not need honor from
others; she will not want the glory that comes from others, if she
enjoys that which comes from thee. Prefer her before all, on every
account, both for her beauty and her discernment, and praise her. Thou
wilt thus persuade her to give heed to none that are without, but to
scorn all the world except thyself. Teach her the fear of God, and all
good things will flow from this as from a fountain, and the house will
be full of ten thousand blessings. If we seek the things that are
incorruptible, these corruptible things will follow. “For,”
saith He, “seek first His kingdom, and all these things shall be
added unto you.” (Matt. vi. 33.) What sort of
persons, think you, must the children of such parents be? What the
servants of such masters? What all others who come near them? Will not
they too eventually be loaded with blessings out of number? For
generally the servants also have their characters formed after their
master’s, and are fashioned after their humors, love the same
objects, which they have been taught to love, speak the same language,
and engage with them in the same pursuits. If thus we regulate
ourselves, and attentively study the Scriptures, in most things we
shall derive instruction from them. And thus shall be able to please
God, and to pass through the whole of the present life virtuously, and
to attain those blessings which are promised to those that love Him, of
which God grant that we may all be counted worthy, through the grace
and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with Whom, together with
the Holy Ghost, be unto the Father, glory, power, and honor, now, and
ever, through all ages. Amen.

418 [There is another reading which applies these words to the man, as
follows: συστέλλων
ἑαυτὸν καὶ
συνάγων,
“that he might not, by contracting himself and making all center
in himself, be cut off from the rest,” instead of συστέλλουσα, etc.—G.A.]

420 [“ὡς expresses the mode of view in which
the wives are to regard their obedience towards their husbands, namely,
‘as rendered to the Lord.’”—Meyer. In
Luke xiv.
26 the absolute is put for the relative, as elsewhere often, and this
explains our author’s difficulty.—G.A.]

421 [This
“but” is by no means easy of explanation, but probably is
to be understood thus: He is the saviour of the body that man certainly
is not, “but, nevertheless,” as the Church is subject to
Christ, so let wives be to their husbands, etc.—Ellicott, Meyer,
Bengel, Calvin, and Alford.—G.A.]

422 [“If you put all the arguments of orators together, you will
not persuade husband and wife to mutual affection as Paul does in this
place.”—Bugenhagen, quoted by Meyer.—G.A.]

423 [“‘The word’ (ῥῆμα) does not mean here the
‘baptismal formula,’ as Chrysostom holds, but ‘the
gospel,’ and here stands without the article, because, denoting
‘the word’ κατ᾽
ἐξοχήν, it
could be treated as a proper noun, as νόμος, &c.
All special interpretations, except that of ‘gospel,’ are
purely invented.”—Meyer.—G.A.]

424 [Note that Chrysostom here quotes the Old Testament Apocrypha as
Scripture: ἄκουε τῆς
γραφῆς
λεγούσης. Dr. Schaff says: “He accepts the Syrian Canon of the
Peshito, which includes the Old Test. with the Apocrypha,”
&c. Prolegomena, p. 19.—G.A.]

426 [The
words, “of his flesh and of his bones,” are omitted
by א* A B, by
Memphitic version, by Lach. Tish. Treg. (text) W. & H., and by the
Rev. Ver. without any marginal notice whatever.—G.A.]

427 [Meyer: “‘For this reason,’ namely, because we
are members of Christ’s body. Paul then applies what is spoken in
Gen. of the union of husband and wife, by a typical interpretation, to
the second coming (future, καταλείψει) of Christ, and his union with the Church, which shall
take place at the Parousia.” Ellicott says that
Chrysostom’s view is more probable, namely, that it refers to
Christ’s coming in the flesh. (See a little below, on ver.
32.)—G.A.]

428 [This seems a distinct statement on the part of the Apostle, that
the preceding words refer not to actual marriage of man and woman, but
to the nuptial union of Christ and the Church. So Meyer. But Dr.
Riddle, in the Popular Commentary, says this “mystical
interpretation is unsafe.”—G.A.]

429 [Nevertheless, i.e., not to press the mystical bearings of the
subject any further.—Ellicott. So substantially Meyer and
Riddle.—G.A.]

436 [In
Hom. XII. on 1 Cor. iv. 10, Chrysostom says, “But when marriages
are solemnized, dancing and cymbals and flutes and shameful words and
songs and drunkenness and revelings and the Devil’s great heap of
trash are introduced.” And much more to the same effect and in
great detail.—G.A.]

438 [The well-known beggar of Ithaca, the home of Ulysses. He was the
messenger of the suitors of Penelope. See Odys. Bk. xviii. 1–125.
Later, his name was used as an appellation, “an Irus, a
beggar.” Liban. i. 568.—Liddell and
Scott.—G.A.]